Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Thoughts for Thursday: Skinny Jeans on Guys

You want to know what I think about skinny jeans on guys???

FUUUUGGGGLLLLYYYY!!!

GUYS!! Please, I beg you......... DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT WEAR SKINNY JEANS.  Not even if your life depended on it!!  I seriously don't get why they are fashionable.  They are sooooo unflattering.  They shrink the length of your leg, make your butt look gross and they're just plain repulsive to look at.

Why?

Please tell me I am not alone!  Ladies, I know you don't let your men out of the house wearing these hideous pants.....

Like Humpty Dumpty......

The worst part about my trip to Colorado this summer was that I accidentally dropped my Canon G9 and broke it.  Wahhhhhhhh! I instantly felt sick and it wasn't just from the 10,000 ft+ altitude! No performance plan on this baby :(  My little brother thought he could maybe fix it, so within minutes it looked like this.....

 

Can you see the 100 screws laying about???

Unfortunately like Humpty Dumpty, all the King's horse and all the King's men, couldn't put my sweet little camera together again :(    (Or rather the camera went back together but still didn't work.  Thanks anyway for trying, Jeff!)

Political aftermath....

I posted this morning about what I thought about this post by Reallotterywinner.com and then deleted it shortly afterward.  (Wish I wouldn't have deleted my original post but it was basically asking you to unsubscribe to his blog or to leave him a comment).  I have been reading the comments to his post throughout the day today and I see that many of you have left him comments speaking your mind.  He also has his rebuttles, but basically he doesn't care that he offended so many with his words.  I know he is entitled to say whatever he wants, but I found his words very ugly and took offense to what he said. 
Not sure why I am back here posting about this for the 2nd time today, but the topic has lit a fire under me......

PS I have seen that both Nicole and Zoe are also fired up about his post!

Was it the carrot cake??

Or maybe it was the chocolate cake I had last night?
Either way, I feel like I gained at least 3 lbs over the holidays.
Thanksgiving and my long weekend really messed up my eating habits.
Its only December 1st so I am in real trouble if I let this continue!
Over the past year I have shrank a couple of sizes and I never want to step foot in those fat pants again.
Time to fight the holiday pudge before it gets out of hand!

Traffic Court.

I confessed awhile back that I was given a speeding ticket on my way home from the pow-wow  on the Rez in Shakopee.  I am normally a cautious driver and drive at a reasonable speed, but on this particular day I had been in an unfamiliar part of the Cities and a cop was waiting in ambush just past where the speed limit was suddenly reduced by 15 mph.  I missed the new speed limit signs and was obviously going too fast without realizing it.  The officer caught me, pulled me over and gave me a ticket.  I made an honest mistake, but its one that I don't want to have to pay for in higher insurance premiums for the next 3 years.  Or is that junk on your record for 7 years? Whatever.  So I decided I would go to the pre-appointed court date to fight the ticket.

So I made my way to traffic court.  I am going to share my experience with you since many of you are probably as naive as I was when it comes to court appearances! LOL.  I honestly had no idea what to expect, as I had never before been inside a courthouse or courtroom.  I wasn't sure if the same police officer would be there or not!! (I was hoping NOT). I asked the receptionist what I needed to do and she just said that the courtroom would open at such and such time and I would need to check in.  So I made my way to the front of the line when the doors opened, and there were two clerks checking people's name off a master list they had.  I had to fill out a brief paper indicating my race.  It took about 20-30 minutes for the clerks to check everyone in, there were about 50 other people in the courtroom.  There was a panel of suits sitting there too, the prosecutors.  I wasn't nervous at all, but I was feeling a bit apprehensive at the thought of having to plead my case to a judge and to the prosecutors in front of all these strangers!! I didn't want to look like an idiot or anything! There were absolutely no instructions as to what to expect, so I just sat and waited.  So then the four prosecutors started randomly calling out names and then taking the individuals out of the courtroom, bringing them back to the clerks a short while later.  I was thinking, oh, this isn't so bad if I can meet with someone individually.  But then we were all asked to rise and the judge came out.  The first two cases he called were DWI's who had defense attorneys.  The defendants had to plea their whole case in front of everyone.  How embarrassing! (But its a well-known fact that I have absolutely NO sympathy for anyone who drinks and drives and the consequences they face).  At this point I wasn't sure if everyone was going to have to enter a plea before the judge, or what! Turns out he was only on the bench for about 15 minutes total, then recess was called.  About an hour and fifteen minutes after the courtroom opened, I was finally called to meet with one of the prosecutors.  He saw that my record was clean and offered either 1. reduced fine (ticket would remain on record)  2. Keep driving record clean for one year and this ticket will never go on my record 3. Have a trial in which the officer who gave me the ticket would be there to testify against me.  I opted for option #2. 

So to conclude this novel, I will be driving like an angel for at least the next year!

I hate new shoes!

I have said it before and I'll say it again.
I am NOT a shoe person.
I had to force myself to buy a couple new pairs of shoes this year out of dire necessity.
The first pair I wore to Darrell & Denise's wedding last weekend.  My toes are just barely recovering from that ordeal!
The second pair I wore for the first time today.  They were fine up until about lunch time, but the back of my heels have been rubbed raw :(
I have come to the conclusion that I might just have to move somewhere that I can wear flip-flops 365 days a year!

Gmail is blocked from work :(

Whatever am I going to do???
I hardly ever have time to write personal e-mails at work anyway, but now I can't read them either.  (Until I am eligible to get my iPhone, I guess)
Boo Hoo!
Oh, and AIM is blocked too.
What on earth did we ever do before e-mail???!!!!!

Camera Trouble x 2

It has been a whirlwind this past week with my family in town.....lots of fun! Disk golf, bowling, BBQ, fishing and boating.  I have been depending on other people to either take pictures or let me use their cameras since mine broke again.  I hate not having my own! I have had too much going on to drop my camera off at Best Buy, but  I am pretty sure that it has broken enough times (per performance plan policy) that I will get a new camera instead of them fixing it.  I'll update about all of that when I can retrieve the photos from my cousin Dan.
Anyway, I went out to dinner tonight for a very interesting meeting with some of the Interactive Marketing people at General Mills (their treat!).  The restaurant was Wolfgang Puck's 20.21 (totally fabulous).  Because of the nature of the meeting, I invited my brother Jeff along.   Since I am without my camera, I made Jeff bring his out so that I could do a review for Twin Cities Restaurant Blog.  Dinner was amazing but somehow between leaving the table after dinner and the ride back to Jeff's, we managed to loose his awesome camera.  I am totally sick about it :(  We are hoping that the restaurant has it safe and unharmed (if it was indeed left there- Where else could it be if it isn't in the car??).  I'm praying Jeff gets it back.

On a sidenote: Have any of you checked out Bettycrocker.com lately? They have a bunch of yummy recipes....go check it out!!

PS I haven't made it to bed before 1am in the past week (while waking by 5:30am each morning).  I am dooggggg tired

Foul mood today

I bombed the Praxis this morning.
Woke up after a terrible night sleep, drove to the testing site and arrived 5 minutes before I was supposed to be there to find out they changed the location to a different high school.  I hightailed it through the east side to get there in time, to discover that there were a million testers and only one woman checking id's.

The test did not go so well.

I was overconfident going into it after taking a practice test online.....I aced that so I mistakenly thought I had nothing to worry about.  It was HARD.  Much harder than I was expecting.  The only section I feel good about is math.  The social studies focused mostly on government crap....and not just US gov't.....other countries around the world!  And for the life of me I could not remember all the parts of a cell and what their functions are. Damn, I feel like such an idiot.  It was so long ago that I learned all that stuff in college.  I was really hard on myself and had a breakdown in the car on my drive home.

It has been cold and windy and wet and I want nothing more than to just curl up on the couch with my babe and watch a movie.  Instead I obligated myself many weeks ago to go to a bachelorette party tonight for a good acquaintance.  I feel bad, but I just don't feel like going tonight (but I am going to).  I am in such a poor mood that I know I won't be my usual fun self.  I will not be drinking because I have to drive all the way home and get a decent night sleep for a change so that I can spend most of my day tomorrow studying for my stupid american literature mid-term that I will be taking on Monday morning.  I'm not in the mood to bomb another test this weekend, know what I mean?

Okay, I need to go get ready for my party and shake off this crabiness.

This makes me want to puke.......

POETRY.......

I just don't get it!

The types of poems that need to be explained or interpreted, anyway.

Which really stinks right now, as I have been assigned to read and analyze several cryptic poems.

Dang it!

Dear Spring,

Dear Spring,

Is this some kind of joke?  What exactly do you think you're doing when you send 4-6 inches of snow on the Monday of my SPRING break??
I was not fortunate enough to go South to spend time with your cousin (the real Spring)  this week, so I had hoped you would come through for me.
Every time I do think you are actually here to stay, you pull this disappearing act.
Can't you just be consistent, already????!!!!!
Is that too much to ask?
Please come back so we can play together this week.
(The warm version).

Kristi

Smoking Ban: A Flaw in the Law

Imagine my surprise when I showed up at the Rock Nightclub on Saturday night to discover that the bar was filled with nasty-ass cigarette smoke and a ton of people were blatantly smoking......WTF? MN banned smoking in public places as of Oct. 1, 2007.

Even though I am not a regular bar-goer, I do go to clubs quite often to see concerts.  It has been wonderful that they have all gone smoke-free.  Of course not everyone thinks so...many bar owners say the new law is killing their business.  Some how someone (a lawyer) discovered a little loophole in the smoking ban.....apparently actors in a performance are still given the right to smoke.

So guess what the Rock and a few other bars are doing now to allow customers to smoke?  They have turned a few regular events into "performances".  This is the play program that they posted and handed out:

This had my friends and I in an absolute uproar...are you kidding me??!! How can they get away with this?  Anyone who wanted to smoke was charged $1 to get a button that identified them as one of the "actors".
Heather gave me a pair of earplugs and I told her I was going to wear them as noseplugs instead!  Here is a staged photo of me demonstrating how much I love smoke:
The show itself was decent and many of my friends came out to see Richie play.  Too bad we didn't do much but bitch about the smoke the whole time!

So despite how much I hated being at the Rock on Saturday night because of the smoke, I got talked into going back there on Sunday night to see Drowning Pool and Saliva.  I could care less about either of these bands, but a friend of mine is the promoter for their national tour.  Hard to beat free tickets! PS Smoking was NOT allowed on Sunday :) 

I can't believe I went out three nights in a row and got very little sleep...I hope this week goes fast!

Icky Poo-Poo Flu....

Washing my hands 1,000,000 times a day wasn't enough, apparently.

I'll spare ya the N-A-S-T-Y details, but I DO have some suggestions to avoid mass contagion in your households, once those little sneaky germies gets inside:

• Have a "sick" bathroom.  Only the barfy/poopy person should be allowed in this bathroom.  Have Lysol on hand to spray as often as possible
• Keep sickie quarantined to his/her bedroom...no need to spread the germs all over the house!
• Replace toothbrushes immediately
• Wash all linens ASAP
• Wash, wash, wash hands!!!

I seriously hate the stomach flu!!!!!!!

BIG OOPS!

So last night was actually NOT the first night of class.....LAST week was!!  Apparently I was not alone in thinking this....four others showed up for the first time last night too.
Made me feel like a total dumb-ass!! This class is with an unfamiliar professor as well, so accidentally missing the first class made me feel even worse because the last thing I would ever want to do is give a professor a bad impression of me!
Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.  She is giving us newbies until next week to turn in the assignments she had already assigned for last night.
The class is an integration of teaching social studies through the fine arts.  We have many art projects to do, but most of them we will be doing in class.  Compared to last semester, this class should be pretty easy. 
Its my distance-learning American Literature class through LSU that is going to be the butt-kicker!  We are reading a ton of great material in that class, but I have to analyze and write a million essays.  I swear I haven't written an essay since I was in college.....and that was many, many moons ago!

Dear McDonalds,

Or should I say WacArnolds?

Or Crack Don's??

Mickey D's or whatever.

Its OVER between us.

I know it has been a LONG time since I have been to visit you, but as the whole world as my witness, I will not be back to your restaurant for a LONG, LONG time, if EVER again.  Not unless you offer the only food left on earth. (And even then maybe I would rather starve to death??!!)

It has been 6-7 months since I last visited during your "regular" menu hours because I was sick of you screwing up my order every dang time.  When I say NO CHEESE I mean it.  I cannot eat your nasty-A$$ American cheese.  I do NOT want your filet-o-fish with enough tartar sauce smothered on it to gag a whale.  And why would you give me honey mustard for my nuggets but fail to put the nuggets in the dang bag???? Countless calls to you and promises of "free"coupons to make up for the nasty food I had already paid for and couldn't eat would've helped, but NEVER ONCE did you send me any of my coupons you promised.

I told myself that I would not be coming back to visit you, however your breakfast service at my local McD's was actually quite good.  Very friendly.  And since there is nothing else (breakfast-related) on my way to work, I actually looked forward to my sausage and egg McMuffin WITHOUT CHEESE every couple of weeks or so.

BUT Just when I thought you could be trusted with my breakfast order, you had to go and put CHEESE on my breakfast sandwich this morning.  Gag me with an effin spoon!!!! What a waste of $2.12, straight into the dang garbage can once I got to work this morning.

So I am done, Mickey D's.

This was your last chance and you blew it. I won't even bother calling to complain because I am sick of your empty promises.

Don't expect to see me around anymore!

PS  Einstein Bagels was always my first choice for breakfast but they closed a few months ago.  Boo hoo!

The past 21 hours have made me really CRABBY!!

I am not usually a "crabby" person, although if the cards are stacked against me, it doesn't take much.
And usually unfortunate things tend to happen to me in numbers.
We got several inches of snow yesterday afternoon.  This always slows the evening commute down some, but last night was REDONKULOUS.  I left work at approximately 3:22 to head downtown Mpls for a very important meeting I had on campus starting at 4pm, with a private meeting arranged after the big meeting.  I won't even begin to tell you how bad traffic was for me to travel the 15-20 miles or so to get there from work, but I did take a picture of my clock and elapsed time (E/T) when I finally pulled into the parking garage at St Thomas. Thank God the person I had the meeting with was waiting around for most of the night because of the horrible traffic....I was not the only one it took over 3 hours for.

I am so thankful it only took me 1 1/2 hours to get home after the meeting, only double what it normally takes.  I wouldn't have been able to handle another 3 hours in the car. 

I woke up extra early this morning, in a decent mood.  The sun is out, the snow had stopped, and I had an 8am appt. to get new tires on my car  I was promised I would be out of there in less than an hour, but unfortunately the previous owners of my vehicle never mentioned that there are locks on the wheels that need a key to be removed.  And with my luck, wouldn't you just know that the key was no where to be found anywhere in the car? Previous owners did not know where to find said key.  To make a LONG story short, the wheel shop did everything they could with the resources they had to remove the locks, but no such luck.  They had to run to Lexus to get the right tool, which fortunately Lexus had in stock.  Great, I'll be on my way soon, right?  But of course with me, when it rains, it pours.  The damn tire machine BROKE with my wheel stuck to it.  Took about an extra hour for someone to come out and fix the machine.  3 hours and a half-sick-day later, I was able to leave with my new tires.  Too bad it cost me an extra $100 because of the wheel-lock problem.  Grrrrrr.
I hope the rest of my day & night go better....I will be presenting my final lesson tonight in my health/science class. Only two more weeks of class after tonight.  Can't wait! Now I just need to get crack-a-lackin on my HUGE math project.

Wish me luck and a better night!

PS Happy birthday to Maria today!

I am procrastinating. BIG TIME.

Its late Sunday night and I haven't started my big math project yet.

I am freaking out!!!!!

This is very unlike me.  I tend to work on projects weeks in advance, but I have had so much to do, I haven't had a chance to get started on this one yet.
Except I did.
I had all weekend to work on it.
Instead, I ran some errands before the snow storm hit, then lounged around all day Saturday, watching the snow.  Also visited with some friends, cleaned a little, cooked, did this or that and did hardly any schoolwork.
Woke up early Sunday and spent the morning finishing my health project to be presented this Wed in class.  (Yay, accomplished one big item on my list!)  I was just about to start working on my math project when E and I decided to go next door to watch the rest of the Vikes game.
7 hours later, I finally just made it home.
D & D are so damn hospitable and fun, the time flies when we hang out with them.  Darrell made homemade lasagna from scratch and invited us to stay for dinner.  We could hardly say no, everything looked and smelled so good and they made a ton of food.  It was awesome!! Jere and Shannon and the kids also came over for dinner, so of course I wanted to spend time socializing with our neighbors rather than working on my project.  Who wouldn't?!
After dinner we spent a few hours playing darts on D's new dartboard.  I love playing darts and rarely get the chance.  I was having so much fun, it was hard to stop.  Eventually the guilt about this upcoming project won out.
I need to get started on it but I am really dreading it, hence the procrastination :(
See, just by writing this blog post I am putting it off even further.
Ugggg!!
Lord, please help me get through the next few weeks until this semester is over and I can take a well-deserved break!!!

Feeling the need to change up my blog banner, hopefully I will get to it this week???!!!

12-hour work days

Pretty much suck when you wake up with laryngitis.......

But I am a trooper (or shall we say stupid?!) and went to work today anyway.  Even stayed for evening conferences.  I didn't do much conferencing because of my lack of voice (and poor parent attendance) , but spent some quality time working on my section of the school website.  Did you know that you can turn a Powerpoint presentation into a .mov (Quick time) file on a Mac? Pretty sweet.  Makes it easy to upload the students' projects. Here is the intrrduction we made, I hope you can view it (you should be able to as long as you have Quicktime player).  I was having trouble uploading it to YouTube for some reason?! Each pair of students is making their own presentation/movie of the rainforest they studied.

Download Tropicalrainforests.mov

Too bad I have only the older eMacs at school to work with.  The wait on my Macbook pro is dragging on forever!  It was 16 days ago that I ordered that thing and it isn't scheduled to ship/arrive until Nov. 30th.  I guess that is what happens when you customize it with the latest hardware upgrades available! And I swear I am not rubbing my purchase in to those of you who have told me how envious you are.....I  probably won't even know how to use the thing and wonder why I charged the boat-load of money it took to buy it in the first place! I guess only time will tell....

I have conferences again all day tomorrow, then off to class to present my technology project.......which happens to be the school website ;)

Can't wait to sleep in on Thursday! At this exact moment in time that is what I am so very thankful for :)

TGIF!!!!!!

I can't recall how many Friday posts have started with this title, but some weeks just need to end already, kwim???
I am so irritated today!
So earlier this week I was bragging about Firefox, right?  Still lovin' Firefox, but can't figure out for the life of me why everytime I try to print from Firefox, there must be a default set up somewhere telling it to print 4 x 6.  So everything I print from Firefox only shows the top 4 x 6 of the page.  WTF???!!!  I seriously spent 2 hours trying to figure this out last night and this morning.  Under page setup I am not given the option of paper size and it does this on any printer I try to print from.  All docs and pages from Internet Explorer print just fine, so it is definitely a Firefox isssue.  None of my tech-people have been able to help and I haven't found anything useful on the internet either. Grrrrrrr!!!!  I even re-installed Firefox this morning and that didn't solve the %(*&%*^&$*$ problem either!!  If anyone can point me in the right direction, you will be my new BFF.
I hate being frustrated.  Nothing makes me more irritated, I swear!
My new Macbook Pro won't be here for another 2 weeks either, so that is irritating me too!

I am so glad its Friday.
Its been a long week and I have a lot planned for this weekend.

In the happy news department, Brian and Michelle have some BABY NEWS.  Go check Michelle's blog to find out more :)

Is it a full moon or what???!!!

Raise your hand if you can feel that its been a full moon this week.

Anyone?

Do you notice that things really do tend to get a tad bit crazier when the moon is at its fullest?

We teachers can always tell by how kids behave in school! No joke.

My cycles are also always N'sync with the full moon.

Doesn't help to be emotional when everyone else is kind of crazy too!

Took this picture of the moon early this am on my way to work

Happy season premiere of Grey's Anatomy tonight....I hope I get enough work done tonight to justify watching it :)

9 days can make a HUGE difference

In my case it is 9 days that royally bit me in the patooty.

Let me explain.

There is a Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness program out there, where if you teach at an inner city school for five years or more, the government will pay off $5,000 of your federal student loans.  They will pay up to $17,500 for special education teachers or math and sciece teachers at the secondary level.

I applied for this loan forgiveness about a month ago and was so sure that they would forgive at least $10,000 of my loans since I had taught special ed for two years plus all the years I taught special ed summer school.

Well apparently one of the other criteria is that you could not have had a balance on loans prior to October 1st, 1998.

Guess what date I borrowed my first student loan?

September 22, 1998.

They denied me because I received my loan NINE EFFIN DAYS before their stupid %*&^&(%&(^% cut off date.

That majorly blows! I was hoping to have that money forgiven because I am taking another $934739483984 in loans this year to go to my prestigous university.

Talk about being ticked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do they have to have a cutoff day at all?????  Any teacher who teaches in the inner city should have the whole kit and kaboodle paid for, IMO.

So that's that.

ooooh BIG money. NOT!

Today I got my first official two-week paycheck as a 9th-year teacher.  (For every year of service, teachers make more money....)

I was somewhat excited to see my paycheck and see if this would be the year I would finally be making decent money, or at least make a significant jump on the salary schedule.

Apparently this is NOT the year.

Comparing this year's salary to last's:

$30 more per two week payperiod.

WOW!!  Big money, huh??

You find yourself looking at that $30 jump in pay and think, "I went through all THAT for THIS?"

Teachers face many challenges on a daily basis and are held accountable for student achievement (despite the needs of such diverse learners).  We earn our salaries and then some, ya'll!  Especially those of us who work in the inner city

I am not bitter that everyone else in the private sector get such high percentage raises, its just that in my field I will probably never see more than a maximum of 3% raise from year to year.  Closer to 1-2%.  And no bonuses, ever.

Good thing I really love what I do!

School has been going great, by the way.  I am finally working in the classrooms and I am very excited about what I will be doing this year.  So far I love my new school and think I made a good choice by accepting their offer :)

Have a great weekend!

How ridiculous is THIS????

Some of you may know that I live in Hugo, MN, a farming community, just 12 miles NE or so from the capital city of St. Paul.  It pretty much goes from urban to suburbs to rural in a very short distance.  I live in a newer residential area in the very southwest corner of Hugo that has only just been developed in the last 6 years or so.  The rest of the city is very large and spreads out for many miles to the north and east, mostly farms everywhere.  One typically thinks of farms and cows first when they think of Hugo (if they've heard of it at all!). So anyway, I am watching the news tonight to see that a woman in Hugo was cited by the county sheriff because HER COW's (or should I say steer's) MOOING WAS ANNOYING THE NEIGHBORS.  I am not even kidding!!  How ridiculous is that??? I mean if you are going to live around here, especially next to a FARM, you better expect to hear mooing every so often, right?  The judge is probably going to shake his/her head when this woman goes to court to fight the $1000 fine she is facing!!!  Watch the news story on Kare11.com or read about it!

Not having a camera....

Not having a camera is like torture.  I have to rely on others to take pics or bring their cameras now, it used to be the other way around.

Best Buy says it may be 3-4 weeks before mine is repaired.

Wahhhhhhhhhh!!!

Okay, whining over.

I wanted to be lazy....

It was dark and dreary out this morning, but I woke up early despite the good sleeping conditions.  I lounged on the sofa for a few hours reading The Pact by Jodi Picoult, not wanting to do anything today other than make a quick trip to the grocery store.

But since when do you recall me sitting around doing nothing???!!  I can't recall either!  As it happens, I didn't get to be lazy all day afterall.  Instead I cleaned and reorganized my garage.  Yuck.  It was in bad shape, people!!  Boxes, furniture, car parts, and Miscellaneous crap everywhere.  Not too mention 100 lbs of dirt and dust.  It is only a standard 2-car garage, so it is amazing to be able to fit two vehicles in there to begin with!!

So 6 hours, and a very aching body later......

I have a very clean, organized garage! (Sorry, no pics).  Hopefully I can keep it this way because I don't want to go through all that again for a LONG time!

I was too tired to cook so went out for a very late dinner to Quack's in F.Lake.

**PS Planning to post pics of Bianca's baptism from Sat. as soon as Sheleigh sends them to me :)

Today just isn't my day...

Got the official word this morning that due to budget cuts, my position is getting the "axe" at one of my schools.  Knew this was coming, but it still pisses me off. 25% of our kids there are identified as G/T and now there will be no one there to service them.  Pretty sad.

And there is MORE bad news related to work.  Some of you know that I was formerly a special ed teacher working with kids with learning disabilities.  Well, every summer I teach special education summer school in a nice, A/C'ed building.  Well because of a "glitch" on the IEPs, students cannot attend special ed summer school unless it is specifically written into their plans that they need year-round services.  This never was a problem in the past, but it is now.  We usually have about 700 kids signed up for sped summer school at this point, but right now we only have 50.  So I can no longer count on this summer job (my only income).  I didn't apply for regular summer school and I am afraid that all the positions are now filled.  That blows.

I also have a pulled muscle in my back...must've happened at the gym on Tuesday night and it hurts like heck.  Still no chiropractor, although I have called one a few days ago and they never returned my call.  I am terrible about making appointments....I better follow through on this one.

The kids this afternoon were also being jerks :(

I DID however, have fun last night.  I met up with Dana at El Patio Mexican Grill to play catch-up and have a nice Mexican dinner.  I have totally been craving Mexican.  Pretty cool restaurant, read my El Patio Review!

Tomorrow is Friday, I am hoping for a better day :)

PSA: Database with personal information

I saw the following message on Scrapjazz this morning.  And this is NOT A JOKE.  I am a little freaked out at how much information about me is out there and all of you should be too!  People can actually buy your background report for $50.  Horrible!!!! Scary!!!!!

******************************************************************************************************************

Beginning this month a New Database will be available to the general public free of charge that displays your personal information
(names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates). (Soc. Sec. is available for a price.) The database is found at http://www.zabasearch.com/ type in your name and check...
I urge you to forward this information to family and friends. Check to see if your name and information is in their database. If so and you want it removed, send them an e-mail at [email protected] to request it be removed. I do not know how our names are appearing there, but I checked my own and a few other random ones and they are all in this database!
After opting out by email, check back after a few days to make certain your information has been removed. If it has not been removed then file a complaint with your State's Attorney General.

***************************************************************************************************************

****Not only do they show addresses and phone numbers, but it also lists people that you are related to.  Both of my brothers, my parents and one of my cousins were listed next to my name  http://www.intelius.com/people-search.html

A Pain in the neck......

I've got one. A REAL pain in the neck.  I've had this stupid crick in my neck since the day after Easter.  That was two weeks ago!!? I've slept on it weird and had pain like this before, but never for this long. (Not since the initial car accident many years ago anyway). I've had many headaches again lately too. I totally need to see a chiropractor, but need to track one down in my network.  One that is convenient for me to get to. Is there a huge difference in the type of chiropractic care you receive? I assume so, but not sure what would be best for me.  Someone who can cure me of all my aches and pains would be great :)

It was beautiful here for most of the weekend.  I scrapped with some of my friends on Saturday morning. Ironic to scrap this snowy layout while it was so nice out!  This layout kind of looks like crap on here, looks much better IRL.  Love this new Cricut font, the Mini Monogram.  It was on sale at Michael's last week for over 50% off, so I snatched it up.

I started another layout but haven't finished it yet. This one I did sometime last week. I am getting pretty lazy, I didn't even bother with journaling or a creative title.

I have so many more pages to do and haven't been feeling too creative with the scrappies.  I would be all about scraplifting these days,  but I haven't even seen too many layouts in the latest mags that inspire me or work with all the pictures I like to use.  I know I am an unconventional scrapper....I am not all about "cutesy" titles, I just like to create cool pages to display all the photos I take from different outtings with my friends and family.  I'm not trying to get published or anything, I'm doing it for myself.  My scrap philosophy is that I have too many great photos to use just one on a page.  I also scrap because I love all the products! Who doesn't?

I really didn't do anything else this weekend, other than sit around and read a lot, and hang out with my man.  I was invited to a party at B & M's, but was so tired and just wasn't feeling that great.  Sorry guys!

So back to reading.... I feel like going on a book-shopping spree.  Any shopping spree, for that matter.  I want new shoes, new clothes, a new camera....all sorts of stuff.  I could spend a ton of money right now, but I am showing restraint!  I am also thinking about buying a Blackberry phone.  Anyone have one that can vouch for them??

I changed up the look on the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog this week and was able to solve my category problem.  I also included drop-down menus and it is much easier to navigate now.  I've tried only one new restaurant in the past two weeks, but hoping to try a couple of new places this week.  I'd love suggestions for good Mexican restaurants that are out of my normal geographical area :)

Finally Friday!!

TGIF.TGIF.TGIF.TGIF

I don't think I could take one more day this week!!!!!  Spring Break starts later today and I am soooooo ready for it!!  I will be looking for a new job soon...budget cuts are hitting our school district HARD again for the 8th year in a row.  I am pretty sure my position will be cut at one school, not sure yet about the other.  It sucks and I am sick of it.  Why the heck did I go into teaching???!!!???!!!  My advice to young teacher-wannabes: Go into a different field.  I have at least 8 million reasons to say this.  I could go on and on and on, but I am trying to stay somewhat positive here.  I hate feeling this way because I really, truly, love my job.

I have a ton to blog about later, but I must head to work. 

I will leave you with a pic of the new bedding :) Please excuse the lumpiness and the cats! LOL

Does this site make your computer go wonky???

I have had two people tell me recently that my blog makes their computer freeze up or something equally unpleasant when they try to visit.  I removed the slideshows a few weeks ago and I thought that helped??  Please let me know if you are having problems.  If you cannot leave a comment, please send me an e-mail.

I must get this problem fixed before no one wants to read this thing anymore!

**Thank you Lily for coming out of your "lurker" status.  I am so glad I know who my visitor from Costa Rica is now :)  I hope I make it down there so you can show me around!

I am illin'.....

I felt totally fine on Saturday, but lounged on the sofa all day anyway (this is a rarity unless I am reading a good book).  By Sunday, I could feel the tightness developing in my chest.  I drank about 2 gallons of hot tea that day, but didn't have an appetite, couldn't eat a thing.  I woke up on Monday, sicker than a dog.  I will spare ya'll the details, but it is now two days later and my lungs are only now starting to work properly.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were SARS or the freakin bird flu. We've been under quarantine since Saturday.  Everything hurts.

Three days off of work really sucks.  Not many subs want to come in when it is -35 below zero.  Can't say I blame them. I do not have the energy to feel guilty.  I needed the countless hours of rest and lack of stress because.....

I have big plans this weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday!!!!!!!!!! Nothing's going to get me down.

Sickly Sauer signing out.....

Laptop is FUBAR'ed

Ya'll know what FUBAR'ed is, right??? Basically it means that my laptop is f'ed up beyond all recognition.

Even the Geek Squad said so.  The Motherboard was damaged and Dell won't allow anyone else to work on it.

So I either pay a minimun of $300 to send it to Dell or I go buy a new one.  Leaning more toward buying new.   I am a PC girl, but someone is trying to persuade me to go Mac.  Not sure about that! Any Mac users here???? I have no idea how to use it, but I heard it is great for iMovie and photos, etc.

Anyway.....

My hard drive is okay, so once I get a new machine, I can transfer some of my stuff.

My e-mail address book is gone for now, it was tied to my computer.  I can still access my mail through the web, but I am not able to respond to messages from home :(  I have asked a friend to send me a gmail invite so once I set that up, I will ask all of you to send me e-mails so that I have your new contact info.  What a PITA this all is!!!!

Good thing our home PC is running great since we reformatted the hard drive on Sunday night.  I will still be able to read blogs and surf.

Alright, gotta go!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Broken....

My laptop that is.

I had just gotten to work and put it down on my computer chair when the bag it was in tipped over and the laptop slid out and crashed on the hard floor.

Now it won't power on and I can't get it to do anything.

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Upset doesn't even describe me right now. I am totally sick about it.

I spent the past 2 hours looking for solutions at Dell.com (what a joke) and tech support for my district, but nothing we have tried works.

I am bringing it to Geek Squad over lunch, hopefully they can give me better news without charging me an arm and a leg.  Hopefully my hard drive wasn't damaged, because none of my work documents were backed up. (Most of my pics are backed up on my external HD, Thank God)

I wanted a new computer, but this was not the way I wanted it to happen.  I still owe $400 on this thing and I am planning to buy a car in the next few weeks.  Timing is really bad.

It might be awhile before I can blog again.........

Wish me luck.

PS. Did I mention that when the computer dropped, a full glass of apple cider spilled all over my desk??

What a terrible morning!

Letters to Myth Nightclub and Jared Leto

Dear Myth Nightclub,

I have a bone to pick with you.  I have been a big fan of your club since it opened last year, but the way things went down for me last night at the 30 Seconds to Mars show have me seriously MAD.  I need to get these things off my chest before I think about stepping foot in your club again!

First off, why is it that a brand-new state-of-the-art nightclub ( said to rival some of Vegas's hottest clubs) with a capacity of 5000 has only 100 parking spots in the lot???? It really bugs me when I have to park at Maplewood Mall and walk half a mile (in high heels) just to get to you! And is it really necessary that 10 of those spaces be reserved for handicapped parking? I am all about rights and priviledges for those that really need them, but I seriously doubt there will ever be 10 handicapped people in your dance club at one time.

Now about last night:

I am especially pissed about the fact that after I waited outside in line for an hour to get into your club,  I was told I could not bring my camera inside.  NOWHERE on the ticket did it say that "no cameras are allowed"!  **I have seen 30 Seconds a million times and never once have I been told I couldn't bring my camera in.  In fact, Jared Leto himself has often e-mailed me (and the Echelon) asking to send him cool pictures I have taken at their shows**  Not once did any of your security tell guests waiting in line that cameras weren't allowed!!!  If they had, I would've taken care of it during the wait instead of having all my friends wonder where I had disappeared to.

If you are not going to allow certain items to be brought into the club, you better have a gosh-darned item/coat check available!!!!!!!  How does a club your size not offer a coat check?? That makes absolutely no sense at all.  I think it is total BS that your egotistical meat-head bouncer made me walk ALL the WAY back to my car (about a mile round-trip with high heels, two months after knee surgery) to leave my camera.

I followed your rules....I returned my camera to the car.  So why is it that upon re-entering the club 45 minutes later, I overhear the same meat-head doorman telling the biotch in front of me in line that she could either take the batteries out of her camera, or return it to her car????? Say what?????? Only to tell me that the management has now cleared it that taking the batteries out of the camera is now an option??? I think you better come up with one policy and stick with it before one single guest arrives....changing your mind AFTER I spent an hour walking back to my car in the freezing-ass wind wearing high heels to bring my camera back is pretty messed up!!!!  And if I do say so myself, your meat head bouncer needs a real attitude adjustment.

And finally....if taking the camera into your club was such a big deal in the first place, why did I see 800 million effers up in there with their camera phones, snapping away tons of pictures????  Why did I see tons of people with digi cams snapping pictures in front of so many bouncers, without any of the bouncers saying anything to them????  I am so mad about the injustice of this, I could spit!!!

You guys seriously SUCK and ruined my good attitude last night.  I had been looking forward to seeing 30STM for months and by the time I go to see them, my feet hurt from walking 5 miles in those god-forsaken heels and I was in a real pissy mood.  Thanks a lot, Myth.  I'll make sure to tell everyone I know how great you treat your customers!!!!

************************************************************************************************************

Dear Jared Leto of 30STM,

Hey hon! Its been awhile.... about 6 months since we last saw each other at The Quest.  It still amazes me at how popular you guys have become recently.....I had no doubt this would happen, but I preferred the intimate shows you used to play at The Ascot Room when there would only be about 50 people at your shows.  I am happy for your recent success and think it is pretty darn cool that you guys won the MTV2 video award for The Kill.  I hear you on the radio all the time now too! Last night was the first show of your MTV2 $2 Tour...I scored tickets long before they went on sale to the public (thanks for the e-mail giving me the opportunity).  I was totally excited to see you guys play at Myth Nightclub...huge club, awesome sound, etc.  Too bad those guys were effing me around last night so that I wasn't able to bring my camera in.  They made me really crabby with how they handled it.  I know you enjoy it when I get some good pics and post them on my blog....  I actually have several Googlers stop by my site looking for pics of you guys!

The show was still pretty cool....the production was way more professional than any I've seen you guys put on before.  You sounded great! But I have a question that I have been meaning to ask you since the very first time I saw you.....

Why do you guys always take the longest time in the world to take the stage??????? It never fails...the wait time is always exceptionally long.  Knowing this, I half expected it last night.  Many of your new fans weren't so patient.  Especially the teenagers! Did you know that 95% of your fans are under the age of 30?  I seriously felt OLD.  Waiting until 10:45pm to take the stage is tough on those kids.

Anyway, it was nice to see you again.  Take care and hopefully we will see you again somewhere soon!

xoxox

PS.  My friend Heather *LOVES* you.  She thinks you're beautiful :)  I think you looked better back in the day, but thats rock n' roll for ya!

Counting My Blessings.....

I wasn't sure how to start this post, so I am just going to say this:

I feel lucky to be alive today.

This morning on my way to work I stopped at Kowalskis in WBL to get some Dayquil and some Orange juice.  Yes...I have come down with yet another cold!

This was not a typical stop for me, but because I did, I took White Bear Ave....an alternate way to work.

Its a good thing I did.

I was 1/2 mile down the street from the grocery, going 25 mph around a curve when I heard a loud crunch in my front end and I suddenly lost control of the car. THANK GOD no other cars were near me.  The car veered to the right and crashed into the curb.  I was thinking, oh great...a flat tire, perhaps??? But I had a feeling it was much worse.  As I get out to survey the damage, the woman who had lived in the house right in front of where this happened, came out and told me that she thought my tie-rod had broke...the same thing just happened to her.  This is what it looked like:

This woman and her husband invited me into their home to use the phone/phone book to call a tow truck and a mechanic.  As soon as the police and tow truck arrived, they both told me I was extremely lucky to be alive...had this happened on the highway, I would have caused a huge accident and probably would've died. I take the freeway everyday to my other school and also home, so it is very likely this could've happened when I was going 60 mph or more.

I think I took that alternate route for a reason.  I think this happened in front of that specific house for a reason.   I have mentioned my guardian angel before, and yes, I believe he/she was looking out for me again today. 

And yes, I am counting my blessings today and feel fortunate to be alive.  It makes the $1000 damage to replace the lower ball joint, CV shaft, and drive knuckle (not to mention the rental car) a little bit easier to swallow.......

No Fun!!!!!!!!!

I am home from work again today.  I came down with the dreaded stomach flu yesterday!!!!!! I will spare you the gross details and just say yuck, blech, eeeeew. Please God, I have had enough!

I went out to the local bar on Saturday night with a bunch of my girlfriends....opted to be the sober driver since I didn't feel much like drinking. And I definitely did not want a hangover.  (The flu happens to be much worse however!) I had a lame-O time watching all my friends have a blast.  I just didn't feel like socializing much that night.  I hate to say it, but the bar pretty much sucks if you're not drinking.  And this bar is one of my least favorite places....you can pretty much take a checklist of everyone you went to HS with and start marking it off the second you walk through the door.  Glad my girls had a good time though!

The Diet......

My intention is not to bore you to tears, but since this is my blog, I am going to make you commiserate with me about my new diet!!

I had already been planning to start making better choices when it comes to food....ya'll know by now that I am the queen of eating yummy foods and going out a lot.  Well it became official last night at the gym when my personal trainer handed diet plans to both me and Lanee after our ass-kicking workout.  We get to eat 6 small meals a day....if you can even call them meals!  More like a small snack.  LOTS of protein and very little fats or carbs.  Like 1200 calories a day.  Can I live off that???? That is probably half of what I am used to! I had 4 egg whites for breakfast, 1/3 cup cottage cheese and a banana an hour later for a mid-morning snack, and then 1 slice low-carb toast and a pouch of tuna (herb & garlic marinated) for lunch.  Only three more meals to go!  And I am still hungry! But apparently this is going to make my metabolism better.  Lets hope so!

My trainer knows me pretty well (he is a close personal friend of E's) and tells me that my goal for now is to have "more good days than bad".  So I figure I can watch it all week and have one yummy food day on the weekend!

Having Vegas is a huge incentive for me to lose some weight fast...I hope this gets easier so that I can make it more of a lifestyle type thing.

Wish me luck, friends!!!! This is not going to be easy!!!!!!

**PS Like the new picture slideshow?  I got the idea from Raina!

Random stuff of the week.....

***Aliens of the Deep

The following pictures were taken in Mexico last week by Mike Miller, of Mound West Tonka, MN.  Apparently these deep sea creatures turned up on shore while he was there on vacation.  Mike is a friend of my friend Bradie. Scientists are studying them to try to classify these unknown fish.

I know this happened after the 2004 Tsunami also.  Makes me wonder what happened this time that caused them to wash ashore.  I always find it fascinating to think about what mysteries our oceans hold for us, which is probably why I enjoyed the Disney movie Aliens of The Deep so much! Excellent documentary, go rent it!

**State of the Union vs. Meet the Barkers

I watched about 30 minutes of President Bush's SOTUA and then it got kind of boring to me.  Flipped on a show called "Meet the Barkers" instead.  I have never seen it or heard of the Barker's before.  Anyone know who they are?? Are they celebrities or just random people getting in on the reality show kick??  I figured at least one of you TV junkies could answer this question for me!

**CHA previews for you scrappers

Monique at Scrap Etc. is at CHA right now and has done a fabulous job of uploading tons of pics to her store's weblog.  Go check it out if you'd like to see all the yummy new scrapbook stuff!  Some of it I absolutely LOVE, but I have to admit I don't love the new KI as much as I loved last year's stuff.  Too monochromatic for me, I guess.  It is still beautiful though. Go check out her pics and let me know what you think!  What are your favorite new paper lines??

***A new puppy for Mary

My friend Mary got this adorable little puppy for her birthday on Monday.  I think she said it is an American Bulldog.  Looks like a pittbull to me!  This is her daughter Taylor who will be 6 years old tomorrow! Aren't they cute!?

***Insurance Woes

How many of you truly understand your auto/home insurance policies and know the contents of them, as far as what is covered and what is not, in the event of an accident?  Do you know how much your deductible is? How about those of you who live in a townhome association? Did any of you know that you cannot be liable for yourself in the event that you cause damage to property you own with (lets just say) your own vehicle? Take it from me.....these are things I encourage you to know BEFORE an accident happens.  It is no fun to find out AFTER the fact that your townhome deductible is $5,000, and that any damage done to your own home caused by a car that you are on the auto insurance for is NOT covered.  It especially sucks when the so-called damage is estimated at just over $5,000 to fix and you have to come up with all of it yourself. I am not going to get into how/why I know this stuff now, but I do.  Makes for a very sad, sad situation.  One that costs so much that the trip you were "waiting to confirm" for Cancun is a distant thought.  If anyone wants to help ease my current depression, I am accepting financial donations!!

Effin Computer!!

I have owned my Dell Laptop for exactly 12 months.  Haven't had a single problem with it.... until this morning when I got to work.  It will no longer connect to the Internet!!  It was working just fine last night at home with the wireless, but today it has "limited or no connectivity".  WTF??  How does that happen overnight?  I had our tech guy at work spend about 45 minutes on it and he had no luck either...we just know that the port is screwy.  I am hoping the wireless works when I get home tonight, but I am afraid that it won't.  Not sure what to do next...call Dell and wait on hold for 5 hours just to have someone hang up on me when I finally get through? Thats what happens to my girl Hillary every time she calls them!  Bring it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and have them charge me an arm and a leg???   I NEED this computer for every thing I do...all of my pics are stored on it as well as tons of stuff I need for work.  Dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This makes me literally feel sick!

So I will have to post my latest pictures and news some other time!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Do you think this is a sign?

It seems I have been running into some bad luck with my car lately.... last Friday it was a flat tire, Tuesday is was hail damage and yesterday while I was driving to work my power steering and A/C went out.  I should have known...bad luck happens in 3's.  Beyond my initial thoughts of, "What now??", I was dreading what it would cost me to get it fixed...summer's coming and that means Kristi is ultra broke!!   Thank goodness I was close to a Jiffy Lube and they were able to figure out what the problem was...my serpentine belt had snapped.  This is not the usual sort of thing that they take care of, but I think they felt a little sorry for me so one of the guys drove to Napa Auto Parts to buy me a new belt...Free of charge... and put it on for me.  Good thing it didn't cost me any more than $50...I think I got off kind of easy!

So anyway, I have had Bessie (96 Mitsubishi Eclipse) for almost 7 years now and I have been wanting a newer car soooo bad.  One reason I have kept the car so long is because I paid cash for her when I bought it on 11-11-98. I have been lucky that I haven't had anything major go wrong with her yet, but this past week has really made me think that I better make a move soon.  So I am hoping that I can make it until this fall without any more unfortunate experiences.  Still hoping to claim the hail damage and get a little $$!

Nobody Leaves me any comments!!

I am feeling soooo sorry for myself right now because nobody is leaving me comments on any of my posts.  Is anybody reading this?????  If so, could you do me a favor and at least say hi!!!??I am doing it more for myself than anyone else, but it is nice to know that everything I am sharing means something to SOMEONE.

Even when I am Blog surfing and come across someone new, I leave a comment just to let them know someone cares what they have to say.  So amuse me, will ya???

Thanks, I really would appreciate it!!!

A Stinkin' Flat tire!!

As I speak I am sitting at the tire shop getting a tire replaced... I was leaving one school to go to another at lunch time when I noticed that the tire was flat.  Luckily we have a service station just three blocks away so I was able to make it there without having to put on the donut.  That at least got me enough air to make it to the place where I have a warranty on my wheels...only put 15,000 miles on them since they were all replaced.
The right front tire had so little tread left on it that they are replacing it for me...it also has a faulty valve-stem, which was making it go flat.
I am so glad I am able to have it taken care of, but I have missed my lunch and I am also going to be late to work. Arrrggg!

What a  great start to my weekend!!

Not too mention I am also getting a sore throat...

I am so ANGRY...gay bashing at its worst!

I received an e-mail from one of my best friends this morning that made me absolutely sick.  She had a story to tell me about a terrible experience she had this weekend when she, her girlfriend and two of their friends were the victims of a gay-bashing incident.  I understand that not everyone is as accepting of the lesbian lifestyle as I am, but to take it to this extreme is criminal!!! I am so sad that this happened to my best friend and her partner, whom I really like and respect, especially for making my friend so happy.  Anyway,  here is the e-mail that I got this morning.

"Kristi

I have a story for you.

We were all playing pool at the American on Saturday night. Katie was playing doubles with

Danielle against this guy and his girlfriend.. Katie and Danielle beat

him he got mad started calling them dykes and other messed up names. We

all decided to leave because this guy was an idiot and I sense that

Katie knew that guy could mess her up. She was being the smart a** self

that she always is. We drove to the Town house. He followed us. We

pulled in to the Wal-Mart parking lot across from the townhouse. He

drove in and parked, he and his girlfriend got out of the car. The girl

said that she wanted to fight one on one with Katie. She pushed Katie

and Katie pushed her back and then the girl backed off and the guy

stepped in and knocked Katie out. Gina saw what happened and tried to

call 911, he walked up behind her and bashed her in her head, she went

down. Then I tried to jump on him to get him to stop and he punched me

in the face and pushed me down. I tried to get up twice and he kept

pushing me down on the cement. When Danielle saw that I got punched she

went after him to get him to stop and he clocked her in her head. she

turned to run away from him and he pushed her down and kicked her in the

head.

This happened Saturday night and Danielle was just released from the

hospital yesterday. She had internal bleeding in her head. Gina was

taken away in the ambulance because she lost sight in one eye. Katie is

now able to open her eye. All the blood vessels are broken her jaw is

messed up. All three of them have black eyes.

The cops wouldn't help or come to the hospital to take a report.

My story is broken because it all happened so fast. It's all such a

Blurrrr!!! "

So you can imagine that I was sick when I heard this story, especially that the cops didn't come to take a report?? That makes me so angry! One of these girls may lose her eyesight and the other one had internal bleeding in her head? OMG!!  What does it take to get a police report filed? I suggested that she call the news or a gay/lesbian organization to get some help on the matter.  I would hate for this maniac to be running around beating up any lesbian who beats him in pool!

Yuck!! I guess it IS possible....

Thank God I had mints to cover up this bad taste in my mouth...yes folks, it has finally happened. I ate Mexican food for lunch today that I did not like at ALL!  In fact I was grossed out to the point of throwing it away without eating much of it!! And I was STARVING!!

I am normally a HUGE fan of Mexican food, so I couldn't resist stopping by this new little Taqueria by my work for lunch today.  I wasn't at all scared that I couldn't read the menu or that not a soul in the place spoke any English.  I ordered a steak quesadilla.  Okay, make a mental picture of what you think a steak quesadilla should look a taste like.  Now I will tell you what I got.... a handmade corn tortilla with the tiniest pea-sized pieces of steak...like maybe 30 of these pieces.  The rest of it had several large chunks of raw onion, half a head of chopped lettuce, sour cream, and white Mexican goat cheese.   Say what??? I suppose it could be construed to be a taco, but definitely not a quesadilla in any way, shape or form!!  The rice that came on the side must have been sitting in styrofome because that is exactly what it tasted like!! The beans I got were runny, but tasty.  So that is all I really ate for lunch today.  Runny Beans!

I will not let this shy me away from any undiscovered Mexican joints around town, but I will likely get a recommendation first!!

Pitbulls are scary!!

I went to a friend-of-a-friend's houses last night to hang out and stuff....I really like this friend, but he has a roommate who has a pitbull.  I get nervous (but try my hardest not to show it) whenever I go over there because this dog has a tendency to scare the bajeebers out of everyone who walks in the door.  He growls and stares you down.  I know that you have to be cool and not show your fear around him, so I pet him when he comes up to me and pray he doesn't snap and take my hand off.  Yesterday my friend put the dog in the basement as soon as we walked in the door and told us the dog has bitten two people lately...one guy in the FACE. This actually happened when the dog lived somewhere else, not at that house, but STILL.  I went and was sitting on couch and later the dog came up from the basement, and come straight at me where I was sitting, put his big ol' paws on my lap and gets in my face.  Sorry, but I didn't really feel like getting kisses or having my face mauled off!  Apparently I was sitting in the dogs favorite place to take a nap.  Fine, dog, I'll move!!

I know that many pitbulls have a bad rap, but I just think something about the wiring in these dogs is just not right.  This is one dog who was never treated badly, yet he still is aggressive and territorial.  He can be very sweet with his owners, but there is no way I would ever risk it by having any kids around or anything.

So after  I went out for a late dinner and came home. I was exhausted from not getting enough sleep all week and actually slept in until 10:30 this am! Crazy, but I guess I really needed to catch up on those Zs!

Feeling Stuffy and Groggy today

Maybe it is because it is Sunday, but I am feeling absolutely under the weather today! My house majorly needs to be cleaned, I am supposed to have dinner with the fam for Bri's bday, but I do not feel like going anywhere today!!!

I put the finishing touches on a couple of LOs this morning, like this one below from Easter, but I am even feeling too unmotivated to scrap.

Okay, pass me some Sudafed please!